We
received a letter recently from Miss Sally Ballou, which will be of interest to
some of our readers, we are sure.We
are glad to add that we have found the graves referred to and which we did not
recognize some weeks ago when we visited the old place referred to by Miss
Ballou.Her interesting letter follows:

510 W. Clifton Terrace,

Washington, D.C.

October 16, 1954

Dear Calvin:

I
regret your failure to find the graves of Uncles Will and Lon Ballou on what
was called the Burford and later the Lytle Beasley farm, Mr. Beasley having
bought it from the Burfords.My
understanding is that the Burfords lived in a log house as did most families of
that period, and it was probably this of which you found some evidence.

In
1890 after the death of Mr. Beasley who was quite elderly and none of whose
children were in a position to keep the farm, it was bought by Uncle Lon and
Papa.At that time it consisted of 147
acres and had on it a shabby, small house, the siding perpendicular, called
then box or boxed; but now board-and-batten, and a dilapidated log barn.

Papa and Uncle Lon bought the place severally, Uncle Lon paying
$2,800.00 for 80 acres, on which were the house and barn and Papa $2,200.00 for
67 acres, with no buildings.On the land
then was a lot of fine timber...very large oak trees and poplar.

Papa had that on his part, made into rafts at Alexander’s Landing and
floated down the river to well in Nashville.Uncle Lon wouldn’t part with his trees.He lived in the small house.Uncle Will staying with him but having no investment in the place.A negro family lived in a little house in
the back yard and did some cooking for them; but they both had many meals at
our house, not as boarders, but as welcome relatives.Few people could cook anything to suit Uncle Will but he was
highly pleased with our food.Often
Mama would fill a basket with good things and send to them; so from the
standpoint of eating, they fared not badly for men living alone.

Uncle Will selected a site near where the Burfords are buried and close
to a large oak tree which stood many years later, and asked to be buried
there.When Uncle Lon died in January,
1907, Papa wanted him buried in the Dixon Springs Cemetery; but the two other
of his nearest relatives then living objected, and said he was to be buried
with Uncle Will.When Uncle Lon owned
the place and at the time of his death where the graves are, was in grass.

The
Ward Ballou family had a picket fence and later a iron one put around the
graves.Should the iron one not be
there now, it has been removed by some unauthorized person or persons.When Uncle Lon sold his land he reserved
quite a large plot ground around Uncle Will’s grave.The exact amount I cannot say, but it is probably on record at
Carthage.

I
presume you are aware of the fact that Uncle Lon became involved in a
long-drawn-out lawsuit, with him in the 1880’s and that it was finally decided
against him, with the costs added.To
settle for this unexpected and staggering misfortune, he sold his land in the
fall of 1897 to Bob Kitrell, who transferred it to W. Y. Clay, for whom he had
bought it.Papa shortly afterwards sold
his 67 acres to Clay.

Papa and Mama then asked Uncle Lon, who was good to us and we to him, to
make his home with them; but he wouldn’t move in permanently, although he was
at our house a great deal.No other
relative extending the same invitation, he regarded their offer as a kindly
consideration he never forgot.

We
moved to Sumner County on October 3, 1905 and in 1906 Uncle Lon stayed with us
several months, leaving during Christmas to collect personal things he had left
in Smith County and intending to return shortly and live with us.He liked Sumner County and the people he met
there.In January, 1907, while at the
house of my sister, Keturah, he fell against a ladder he had started to climb;
and, according to the diagnosis of Dr. Sam Bridgewater, bruised a lung which
resulted in pneumonia and in death January 28, 1907.He was nicely buried by Gill, of Grant, Tenn.

Since you seemed interested in Uncle Lon, these are facts for your
information.

Sincerely,

Sally Ballou

(Editor’s note.We are glad to
have the above highly informative communication from our first cousins, once
removed.In other words, Miss Ballou is
our Mother’s first cousin.We recall
having been in the Ward Ballou home in our childhood, but the passing years
have blotted out many of the memories of a bygone day.We found the iron fence enclosing two graves,
but there were no markers and consequently, we thought that the graves of our
two great uncles, William Alexander and Leonidas Ballou, had been
obliterated.We are glad to learn that
their graves are now marked at least by an iron fence, although we were unable
to find any inscriptions about the burial place of our mother’s two uncles.)

We
might add that the Dr. Sam Bridgewater above referred to, was the officiant on
his (the writer’s) advent into the world on the morning of Wednesday, July 8,
1891.Our parents have informed the
editor that he was born one hot July morning more than 63 years ago.Our father was then 29 years of age; and our
mother was six years younger.God bless
the memory of the grandest parents any boy ever had.

We
are in receipt of a letter of inquiry from Mrs. Arthur Bowman, of 810 SW Vista
Avenue, No. 3, Portland, Oregon.She is
seeking information about the McBride and Womack families.I find the following is among our records.

Jacob Womack’s name appears in Ramsey’s Annals of Tennessee, on page
107, where he is listed as one of the 13 Commissioners chosen by the Watauga
settlers in 1772.The following are
named as Commissioners:John Carter,
Charles Robertson, James Robertson, Zachariah Isbell, John Sevier, James Smith,
Jacob Brown, William Bean, John Jones, George Russell, Jacob Womack, Robert
Lucas, William Tatham.Next he is
mentioned by Mr. Ramsey on page 138 on his history, with the same list as above
given.Then follows a list of 100 names
signed to a document which is without date, but which was marked on its
reception into the state archives at Raleigh, North Carolina, “Received August
22, 1776.”It is supposed that the 100
names are those of petitioners, with Jacob Womack listed first.

Jacob Womack, John Carter and Jacob Brown were made officers of the
militia in East Tennessee at a very early date.Carter and Brown were colonels and Womack a major.This is found on page 145 of Ramsey’s Annals
of Tennessee.There seems to have been
a pioneer fort at Womack’s in the extreme northeast corner of Tennessee.The last reference to Jacob Womack in Annals
of Tennessee, is in the following words, found on page 181; Washington County,
Feb. 23.Court Journal.“At a court began and held for the county of
Washington, Feb. 23, 1778, present, John Carter, Chairman: John Sevier, Jacob
Womack, Robert Lucas, Andrew Green, John Shelby, George Russell, William Bean,
Zachariah Isbell, John McNabb, Thomas Houghton, William Clark, John McMahan,
Benjamin Willson, James Robertson and Valentine Sevier, Esquires.”On the next day John Sevier was chosen clerk
of the county; Valentine Sevier, Sheriff; James Stuart, Surveyor; John Carter,
Entry-Taker; John McMahan, Register; Jacob Womack, Stray-Master, and John
McNall, Coroner.

Carter Womack had a fort near the head of Watagua River.Its exact location isnot known.And neither do we know if Carter Womack was related to Jacob
Womack.We are told by Ramsey that
during an outbreak of the Indians, men were sent from Carter Wamack’s fort to
help settlers lower down the river.We
have given the different spelling just as Ramsey did.

D.
Womack was a Justice of the Peace in Dickson County, Tenn., and performed the
marriage of William King to Rebecca Tatom on Nov. 4, 1838.John Womack married Millie Webster, in
Wilson County, Tenn., on Aug. 23, 1820.The surety for the marriage bond was John P. Campbell.

James J. Womack was born July 7, 1834, died July 18, 1922; and is buried
in Riverside Cemetery, at McMinnville, Tenn.Jennie G. Womack was born March 1, 1844, died July 18, 1905; and is
buried in the same cemetery.Robert
Womack was born Jan. 21, 1849, died Sept. 5, 1902, and also buried in the
Riverside Cemetery.Mary Colville
Womack was born in 1848, died in 1923, and is buried inRiverside Cemetery.In the same cemetery are buried:Mrs. Nuttie Colville, born Feb. 12, 1779,
died Jan. 23, 1884; Amanda Colville, wife of Samuel Colville, and daughter of
Young and Nuttie Colville, born Oct. 16, 1825, died Oct. 4, 1887; and Samuel
Colville, born in McMinnville, Tenn., Aug. 1819, and died in 1898.

William Amzy Wamack was born July 5, 1833, died June 14, 1896, and is
buried in Poplar Hill Cemetery in the 12th Civil District of Wilson County,
Tenn., some distance out of Lebanon on the Commerce Road.

William D, Thompson and Melvin Wamack, married March 7, 1854, in Wilson
County, Tenn.On March 22, 1809, Joseph
Hubbard married Susannah Wamack in Wilson County, Tenn., with John Campbell a
his bondsmen.

On
March 30, 1883, Henry McBride married Miss Eliza Jones.The ceremony was performed by Rev. R. B. C.
Howell, a Baptist minister, who, so far as we can find, resided in Norfolk,
Virginia, at the time.Pleasant H.
McBride and Elizabeth S. Emerson were...